Pat Martin To Retire From ISPA & SPSc

Furniture World Magazine

After nearly 28 years in the mattress industry, Pat Martin, International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) vice president of Research and Statistics and Sleep Products Safety Council (SPSC) executive director, has announced plans to retire in January of 2007. Pat’s contributions to the bedding industry are many and significant. She was instrumental in helping establish the SPSC in 1986, whose mission is to provide consumer safety information, support research and promote activities aimed at reducing hazards associated with sleep products. One of the SPSC’s innovations was creating the safety hangtag, which contains valuable consumer safety information that mattress producers buy from the SPSC and voluntarily attach to their mattresses. Through Pat’s tireless efforts to promote this important product, the SPSC has sold over 220 million hangtags over the past 20 years (over 14 million tags this past year alone), raising valuable funds for scientific research conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and public education campaigns. Pat caps her nearly three decades with the industry with the successful conclusion earlier this year by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) of its new open-flame standard setting process. The NIST research that the SPSC hangtags funded was critical in persuading the CPSC to set rules that are practical for the industry to meet. Pat’s recent projects have included work on the highly-successful Flammability SHOPtalk series sponsored jointly by the SPSC and ISPA that teach members about the new open-flame standard, and a new NIST research project targeted at helping to simplify the original cigarette-ignition standard issued in the 1970s. In addition to her leadership of the SPSC, Pat’s other achievements include managing ISPA’s statistics program. Over the past several years, she has helped to streamline the data analysis process so that ISPA’s annual report on industry sales and trends can be published in a moretimely manner, and helped to develop the monthly Bedding Barometer, which provides industry sales data on a monthly bases. Pat has also managed ISPA’s wage and cost surveys and other important industry-specific reports that help members evaluate their businesses against industry benchmarks. “Since I came on board in 2002, I have come to rely heavily on Pat for her knowledge of the industry, the tremendous relationships that she has built among our members, academia, government officials, and others that influence developments in our industry, and for the magnificent way she has managed both our industry statistics program and the excellent work of the SPSC,” noted ISPA President and CEO Dick Doyle. “There is no doubt in my mind that we would not have achieved the very positive outcome that we did on the CPSC open flame standard without the expertise and persistence of Pat.” Reflecting back on her years of service, Pat has seen many changes in the industry. “There was ample opportunity for personal growth given the challenges and goals set before me,” noted Pat Martin. “I've always been proud to work for the mattress industry, especially when dealing with regulators and other critical parties involved in bringing forth the new open-flame mattress standard. The members are great and I've had the pleasure of making many life-long friends who will be missed.” Pat will be missed, and the ISPA staff, leaders, and overall industry wish her the best in retirement. Established in 1915, the International Sleep Products Association, www.sleepproducts.org is the trade organization for mattress manufacturers and their component suppliers around the world. ISPA hosts the biennial ISPA EXPO trade show and publishes BedTimes and Sleep Savvy magazines. The Sleep Products Safety Council, www.safesleep.org is a non-profit organization established in 1986 by the mattress industry. SPSC’s mission is to provide consumer safety information, support scientific research, and promote activities aimed at reducing hazards associated with mattresses and other sleep products.